Matt Slick Bible Study, Ruth 4

CARM

2 views

November 18, 2021

00:00: four. There it goes. All right. Okay, we're live.
00:06: Good. All right, everybody. We've got a little bit of a five -minute late start here. We'll pray. We'll just jump in. We're going to finish up the book of Ruth, chapter four, and it'll be interesting.
00:15: There's some little tidbits in there that are fun, and we'll get to it. Let's pray.
00:21: Lord, we thank you for today. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us the book of Ruth, and we ask,
00:30: Lord, that you would open it to us, open our hearts to it, that you would speak to us through it.
00:36: Lord Jesus, I ask for your mercy and your kindness on all of us who are here, who are listening, and who are here in this house.
00:43: Ask, Lord, for your mercy on them, and, Lord, on me as well, to speak truth according to your kindness, your grace, and according to your will.
00:52: We ask this, Jesus, your precious name. Amen. Excuse me.
01:00: Okay. All right. Hello, Mark, Jude, Perdun.
01:06: Did anybody ever say Perdun, you? Got any Perdun? Sorry. All right.
01:13: Let's get right in. Ruth, chapter four, verse one. Oh, interesting.
01:19: Now, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom
01:25: Boaz spoke was passing by. So he said, turn aside, friend. Sit down here. He turned aside and sat down.
01:32: So this is probably the town gate where he would go to, because most of the cities, most of the towns had a major gate that people kind of go through.
01:42: It became a place of discussion, debate, introductions, just kind of like a port of entry, so to speak.
01:51: And often the elders would sit at the gates, and they would have their seats or chairs, and people would bring issues to them and talk about things, because these elders were usually wise men.
02:04: They weren't women. They were men who would do this, generally speaking. So now the man, the one who has next in line of kingdom and redeemer is nameless, but in the culture at the time, they would have known his name, of course.
02:21: And it seems maybe that since Boaz says, come here and sit down, doesn't ask him to, he politely tells him to.
02:30: And so the man says, okay, it could be because Boaz is kind of rich and successful, and generally people who are rich and successful kind of garner a little bit more influence than others.
02:41: He took 10 men from the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down.
02:47: So Boaz wanted official witnesses. It didn't have to necessarily be 10 as if it was some cultural norm or some biblical precedent.
02:55: There's 10 commandments, of course. We have 10 fingers, 10 toes, 10, so is there a relationship?
03:02: I really don't know. But anyway, 10 elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down. So he wanted official witnesses to what was going to happen, because what he's going to do is he's going to talk to the kinsman redeemer.
03:15: He wants to marry Ruth, but the kinsman redeemer, who's one step closer to her, you got to deal with that first.
03:23: And if he wants to marry, that's fine. He can do his job. But these officials would be the, generally speaking, were the heads of the families.
03:35: And so what's going to happen? I'm going to go through this again. We've already gone through it.
03:42: Do it every 25, five through nine, a couple, three times. Just going to read it again, because this is what's important here, just culture and it's
03:49: Bible. When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man.
03:58: Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
04:04: It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
04:12: But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel.
04:23: He is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. That thing is interesting because a woman is saying, you got to do this.
04:30: This is your job. It's interesting. Anyway, then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him.
04:37: And if he persists and says, I do not desire to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face.
04:46: And she shall declare, thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.
04:52: All right. So this is the cultural biblical background to what's going on here.
04:58: Now, of course, there are hundreds of years of separation between this and the time of Ruth, hundreds and hundreds of years.
05:06: Now, verse three, then he said to the closest relative, now remember the setting is there and there's probably other people as well, because you know that they're going to know about Naomi.
05:18: They're going to know about Ruth. They know about Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, the 10 elders at the city.
05:23: This is news. So most probably people are there milling around, watching and paying attention.
05:30: All right. So he said to the closest relative, Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother
05:39: Elimelech. Now, I don't know why she had to sell the land and the Bible doesn't say why, but this is the first mention of she's got to sell the land, maybe to pay off debts, maybe because the woman was not really supposed to be the one who held property.
05:54: It was up to the men in the family to hold property. So it might be that she was doing the process of selling the land, but it might go to someone outside the family.
06:06: And it could be a woman's way of kind of prompting a little bit to get things done. Okay. Because remember,
06:15: Naomi said to Ruth, you go over to where Boaz is, cover yourself with his cloak and you do this, you do that.
06:22: So the women are getting things done. A lot of times, which is the case, men sit around and don't do much.
06:28: And then the women kind of prompt them a little bit and they get things going. That's how it is sometimes. And she did it very politely and stuff with respect and everything.
06:39: So anyway, as far as we know, she probably, like I said, probably didn't have any right of inheritance.
06:48: Okay. But she wanted to sell it to the kinsman redeemer and keep it in the family. That was Naomi. Now in the parable of the prodigal son, when the son said,
06:59: I want my inheritance, he was saying that he wants his father dead because he wouldn't get the inheritance until the father died.
07:07: Then he went and took his earnings, his properties, whatever it is, and he went to another land and wasted it there.
07:14: If he had land in his name and went to another area and then sold the land to outside the family, that's a great scandal, great scandal.
07:27: It's interesting when we go through the parables, if we ever do that. But anyway, most probably the closest relative was aware of the cost of the land because it would be something you'd discuss.
07:36: What else are you going to discuss? The Brandon administration? No. The lunar landings, the
07:42: Mars rovers. What are you going to discuss? You're going to discuss what's happening right there in town and things like that.
07:49: So verse four, so I thought to inform you saying, buy it before those who are sitting here and before the elders of my people.
07:58: If you redeem it, redeem it. But if not, tell me that I may know for there is no one but you to redeem it and I am after you.
08:07: And he said, I'll redeem it. So this unnamed man says, okay,
08:12: I'll redeem the land. Now, what does that mean? We haven't told you. You're also going to marry Ruth to get the land.
08:22: Now, if he bought the land and there was no woman to have to raise up seed to or sons to, then that would mean he'd keep the land.
08:35: But if he had a wife and he had to go into her and raise up children, a son for the brother or the next in line, then when that son became of age, the land would revert to him.
08:48: Now that could be a detriment financially to a group of people, a man, a family, because he'd have to take money to buy that land.
08:58: But at least it'd be in his family. He had the potential to sell it. But if he's got to have the wife and raise up seed for the brother, then the money he would have spent for that land in a sense is going to be lost.
09:18: So it could be a huge financial burden. But don't want to say this guy just some schlep who doesn't want to do his duty, but there's related information to it.
09:30: All right. Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire
09:38: Ruth, the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased of his inheritance.
09:48: So it's like, I don't know if it's any scheming there. You got to do this, you got to do that. And then you also got to do the wife thing and, oh, well, well, well, you know, back the truck up.
09:58: So he's a little bit surprised about this, it looks like, and he must marry Ruth, a Moabitess, not a
10:04: Jew, Jewess, but a Moabitess. But Ruth, however, is now adopting the ways of Judaism.
10:10: And yet she's still kind of an outsider. She'd have a different accent, wouldn't know the culture, wouldn't know a lot of stuff, might or might not know the language.
10:17: I don't know what the context there would be, but it doesn't really matter at this point. It probably spoke the same kind of language as Moabite, really close to, not too far from Jerusalem, but nevertheless.
10:28: And so, okay, verse six, so the closest relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself because I would jeopardize my own inheritance.
10:39: Redeem it for yourself. You may have my right of redemption for I cannot redeem it. So now that there's full disclosure, the closest relative says, no, thank you.
10:53: Like I said, maybe it's because it might be a significant expense, but he's willing to endure an expense if the land is his, will stay his, and it's an asset to his family and his children.
11:05: It doesn't say he has children, but in that culture, they married pretty quickly, pretty early, because generally speaking, they were arranged marriages.
11:14: And they were often betrothed, I think 16, 17 years old, and time to get married and start having babies and be blessed of God.
11:26: That was one of the things that was kind of required in that culture. So Elimelech knows that if he's going to marry
11:33: Ruth, then this issue with the land and stuff. Now, there's an interesting thing to think about here.
11:44: Let's just say the closest redeemer, let's just say he did buy it, and he did take
11:51: Ruth as his wife, and he was going to lose the right of the land later on.
11:59: Let's just say that's the case. Then there would be a representation, a type of Christ in that, because Jesus redeems us and there's nothing he gets back from us in it.
12:14: Now, this doesn't mean here that the typology is related to the man who refused, but that's what would have happened.
12:25: It's what would have happened. So Boaz steps in, but the same thing's going to occur.
12:31: The same thing is going to occur in that Boaz is saying, okay, I will buy the land and raise up, because he says it,
12:38: I'll raise up a child for Elimelech, and he's going to get the land. Now, that's a true kinsman redeemer.
12:44: He's willing to do this, full knowledge, full knowledge. So it's a type of Christ.
12:50: Boaz is a type of Christ in that he's willing to buy the bride, buy that land, do what's necessary to redeem her.
13:01: He's not really going to get anything back from it financially, legally. He gets a wife, but it's more give than take, not that that's the whole reason of anything in marriage, but this is it.
13:13: It's more of a giving, complete giving of himself for the bride. And I think there's a type of Christ redemptive work in there.
13:21: All right. Now, what I think is interesting is that the kinsman redeemer, the close relative,
13:28: I'm going to assume he's married. I'm going to assume that. But if he is married, why does he say, my wife won't like this?
13:36: Are you kidding me? But that's not the case because the wives would have known that this is what was culturally obligatory to their husband.
13:46: Now, could you imagine you got your husband and his brother dies and you got the situation and now what he's got to do, and you approve of it, is take his brother's ex -wife and marry her and raise up children.
14:01: And you'd be like, okay, no problem. Different culture, different time, right?
14:07: Different culture, different time. My wife would say, no sandwiches for you. That's what would happen.
14:15: Anyway, so verse seven, now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter.
14:25: A man removed his sandal and gave it to another, and this was the manner of attestation in Israel.
14:32: Now, when we read in Deuteronomy 25, five through, what was it? Five through nine, she, the one who was insulted by the brother not redeeming and not raising up children, she'd take off his sandal, okay?
14:51: The one whose sandal is removed, that was an insult. He takes off his own sandal. It's interesting, stuff about sandals.
15:00: And so I'm sure this is related to the right of redemption. Now, so anyway, he voluntarily removes his own sandal, so it's not an insult.
15:15: He's signifying something, a wise sandal. And I did some research, and to be honest,
15:21: I'm not sure why, what sandal means in that sense. It's worth a look, but let's get to verse eight.
15:33: So the closest relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, and he removed his sandal. Now, in the previous verse, it had to be explained to the reader that this was a custom.
15:43: So enough time had passed such that the custom wasn't really that known, but these were dedicated
15:49: Jewish people, and they were holding to the law. And now sometimes, as often happens in a culture through a period of time, what's normal becomes a little bit deviated, which might explain why he took his own sandal off, where it kind of seems as though the sandal removal is an insult.
16:10: But like I said, if it's taken off by somebody else and spit in the face, that's an insult. But if you take it off, it looks like it's a symbol of a legal transaction.
16:20: But look at this, which all this is done in full view of the elders. And Exodus 3 .5,
16:27: it says, then he, that's Yahweh, said to Moses, and this is at the burning bush, do not come near here.
16:35: Remove your sandals from your feet for the place in which you're standing is holy ground. Now, I used to know a guy when he would preach because of this verse, he would take his shoes and socks off.
16:50: And I liked that. He would preach barefoot because he considered the pulpit to be holy ground, the presence of God.
16:57: And I always thought that was kind of cool, but that's what he did. Joshua 5 .15, the captor, the
17:03: Lord's host, as an angel, said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy.
17:09: And Joshua did so. This was at Jericho when this happened. I won't get into too much about that, but I will brag.
17:16: I've been to Jericho. I've stood on the walls and walked around in Jericho, so there you go.
17:22: You can deal with that. Okay, good. It was a lot of fun. It was great stuff.
17:28: And I learned something when I was outside of Jericho. The tour guide, we were walking up, there was these about a foot, a foot and a half high walls that were like guardrails, but they just made of stone.
17:43: And they were very, very, very old. And there were pomegranates engraved on them.
17:48: And he said, look at the pomegranates. And we're walking. And this is when I learned that there were 613 seeds in a pomegranate, 613 laws in the
17:59: Old Testament. And so the pomegranate represented the law of God. And you're walking through the law of God.
18:05: Interesting. He says he took two pomegranates and counted them on his own. And each time they came with a 613.
18:12: So I'm going to trust him on that. It's a great story. I hope it's true. Matthew 3 .11, as for me,
18:18: John the Baptist, I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals.
18:27: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Prodigal son,
18:33: Luke 15 .22, but the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
18:42: Servants went around barefoot. Servant's job was to clean feet. So let's look at this just for a minute.
18:50: They didn't have socks. They had sandals. And they didn't have pavement or cement.
18:58: They had roads that they and the animals would go on. And animals would urinate and defecate.
19:05: And you would walk in among that. People would step on stuff and get tossed, moved around.
19:11: You could be next to somebody, some fragment of something could spray upon you, et cetera. Your feet were dirty.
19:19: Okay. And also what happened is the mud would kind of cake on the feet.
19:27: Now they didn't just come home and wipe their feet, kick their shoes off, go upstairs, go get a shower, come back.
19:35: Everything's fine. Because if they're going to wash their feet, generally a servant did it or they would do it themselves.
19:42: But a lot of times because of the culture, you just got used to it. You're tired. You sat down. You might scrape off this or that.
19:48: I'd rub off a couple of chunks of something on your feet outside as you walked in. Good enough because they often had dirt floors.
19:55: What's the big deal? Et cetera. You might have rugs on the floor, but the rugs would become dirty as well.
20:01: So the feet became a symbol of filth, of dirt and undesirable things.
20:10: Take the sandal and throw it at somebody. A very huge insult in that culture. I'm not even worthy to untie the thong of a sandal.
20:20: Whoa. Oh, now I get it. Wow. That's really something. Not even worthy to do that. That's what
20:26: John the Baptist says of Jesus. Now, in light of that, remember, when
20:31: Jesus went to the Pharisee's house, Simon, and Simon did not anoint his head, did not kiss him on the cheek, did not provide even something for Jesus to clean his own feet.
20:43: He didn't have a servant do it because the Pharisee would have had a servant. Didn't even have to do that, which is an insult.
20:49: All three of these things to not do is insulting. And this woman comes in, who's a woman of ill repute, most commentators agree, and lets her hair down in public, which is divorceable.
21:04: And then, oh man, goes over to Jesus at his feet.
21:10: Now, remember, he'd be on his left elbow, the table's about this high, and they would lean on their left elbow, and they would eat with their right hand, and their feet would go away from the table.
21:19: That's how people ate, lay on cushions. And so the feet are away, and she lets her hair down, scandal, touches this holy man, she's illegitimate, she's a woman of ill repute, and then kisses his feet.
21:39: Wow. What an act of worship and humility that this woman produced.
21:44: And it's the most humble thing I've seen in Scripture. And wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her own hair, and took the perfume, and wow.
22:02: And he praised her. Just amazing. To me, it's just amazing.
22:08: It's one of my favorite stories, and sometimes when I preach it, I sometimes have to tell the congregation, if I get a little misty -eyed, you gotta understand, this is one of the most beautiful stories in the entire
22:18: Bible, in my opinion. And it is. And she doesn't say a word.
22:23: Not a word of hers is recorded in that thing. And it was just worshipful.
22:30: It's amazing. Anyway, so, verse 9. Oh, incidentally, the
22:38: Greek word for scandal is hupodema. It occurs 10 times in the New Testament. You're welcome.
22:45: Then, verse 9, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belong to Elimelech and all that belong to Chilion and Mallon.
23:00: Now, did he buy his wife? Yeah. Now, in what sense did he buy?
23:07: And I don't know that one. I was reading through some commentaries on this too, and I always like to ask these questions that a lot of commentaries don't really address.
23:16: You can read the text. A lot of stuff makes sense, but then I'm gonna go do some more research. So it says buy. You don't go out and buy a wife, do you?
23:26: Yeah, you do, actually. In some parts of the world, you do. I remember once a film, movie,
23:33: I only remember one scene, this beautiful model type woman, slender.
23:39: She could have been a model, you know, and a TV model if she wanted, whatever. She's beautiful and all this.
23:44: And for some reason in the plot of the movie, she was standing up with a bunch of women who were sturdily built.
23:53: They had these headscarves on, and the situation was men were looking for wives.
24:01: And the women would present themselves, and whatever men would pick that woman, you got married, and that was it.
24:08: And so they're going to this, looking at her teeth, looking at their ankles, and they go to this pretty one, and they go, oh, useless.
24:19: Just get away. I never forgot that. I got a big kick out of that, because her ankles were thin.
24:25: She couldn't, you know, and they took her hips and shook her hips, you know. And so I got a kick out of that.
24:32: That was funny. But the one that was taken with these big sturdy women, okay, you know.
24:40: And so I just remembered that. Is it worthless? Kind of worthless information, but it made you smile.
24:46: So the thing is that different cultures at different times, marriages are done differently. And there are actually cultures where you can marry by buying.
24:55: They happen. There are marriages by exchange. There's marriages by dating and long engagements and all kinds of stuff in between.
25:03: And marriages where you don't even see your wife's face until after you've said,
25:11: I do. And then the veil comes off, and you see what you're, yeah. See what you got.
25:19: Just like, we'll talk about that in a minute. Okay. Can you imagine that?
25:25: You'd be like, you know, I can see some woman getting me, you know, like, okay.
25:34: You know, I don't know with her. I remember once I saw a picture of the cult out of Korea, the moonies.
25:48: And he would do marriages. And I saw a picture. And what he would do is to walk up to men and women, you with you, you with you, you with you.
26:01: And I saw this picture. And there was, you know, all kinds of races, all kinds of this is all kinds of that.
26:08: And I stood in the one couple stood out. She was a beautiful blonde, married to this black guy, nothing, you know,
26:14: I'm probably just interracial marriage, who cares. But he was like, smiling. And she was like, because he wasn't exactly the you know, what looked like a great catch.
26:26: And she but I remember that. And but he was happy.
26:31: I never forgot that. At any rate. But in that culture, though, looks were kind of important, but more so it was raising up children for the
26:44: Lord being blessed was a part of the duty of the of the people to serve God in their marriages, raise up children for the land of Israel through whom the
26:53: Messiah would come. It was a very serious thing. It wasn't just we get a job, we have a mortgage, we go get a car.
26:59: It was in this household. It's for the purpose of honoring the God of Israel. And that how many women might have been wondering, will the
27:10: Messiah come through me? You know, nothing to brag or whatever, but you know, because the
27:16: Messiah is going to come through a woman born in Israel. And every woman had that opportunity to wonder, will my distant son be the
27:26: Messiah? What an interesting privilege. I think it'd be great. So it was a lot of their job.
27:33: And so there we go. Okay. The minute they got married, then they wouldn't then that they wouldn't be able to do it anymore, because they wouldn't be able to bear
27:47: Jesus because they were married. If they get married, then they had to be a virgin. Once you got married, you could have children.
27:55: It was the children. But I'm talking about somebody who was who wanted to be the mother of Jesus.
28:02: No, no, no. No, I meant, no, I meant that they knew the Messiah was coming. Right. But they didn't know through which family.
28:10: Well, actually, they kind of did to the house of David and some other things. But, but that's later on. But so once they got married, they have children, then they would, they could say, they can only say that they're married.
28:23: I want it to be through my, my descendants. I thought it had to be a virgin. It's hard for virgins to have children.
28:32: And, you know, it's a biology thing. It's happened once that we know of.
28:39: But no, they had to get married to have children. And then the wife would become a mom, would wonder if her son or their son or that son or that son or that son down the line would be the
28:50: Messiah. So they could say, were they in that lineage? I wasn't clear before. The guys got it.
28:57: What? They're in the lineage. Yes. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay. Notice how
29:02: I said far away. The kids slap me. I'm at a slapping range, except for one person pretty close.
29:09: That far of a range. I got to move over in the corner. All right.
29:18: Okay. Let's see. What's amazing. Erasmus, Michael Cohen and Matt, they did that in the 1800s, the old west, they were called mail order brides,
29:28: United States. That's right. Mail order bride.
29:36: What if you're a woman and you put an ad, you want a husband, go to Alaska, meet this guy.
29:43: He's a, does something up there and you get in a boat and you go up there and you get married. Well, like I say, you know,
29:53: Russian brides .com, go check it out or don't. Oh, you did, huh?
29:58: Didn't work out. It was very bad. Well, I, Nick and I were watching, when
30:06: I mentioned it last week, we're watching on YouTube about a Filipino girl talking about why
30:14: Filipino women are better wives than American wives. Yeah.
30:20: It was kind of a long infomercial, but she does, but she, but it was all kinds of things.
30:30: Yeah. And she said, oh yeah, we're very dedicated. And again, we like to work. We like to this, like that, like to have children, like to work.
30:37: And they make great sandwiches. It was right up, right up the front. They call it lumpia, great lumpia.
30:46: Oh, lumpia. Oh, that's a good one. That's good stuff. Sandwiches made easy.
31:04: I've brought that into the ground so much. I'm still getting some mileage out of it. All right.
31:12: Let's get back on the case. Let's see. Always on Thursday evening at this time. Okay. I put someone saying Christian Valley, man.
31:18: Got to go. Thanks, man. I'll try to find out when you're planning on doing more of these Bible studies. God bless everybody.
31:24: Okay. Okay. Let Laura Anderson smack.
31:34: Okay. Verse nine. I think
31:39: I read that. Yeah. That we already did verse nine. Okay. So he's making it legal, making it known, making it official.
31:46: So he's binding himself, not only in the marriage he will be binding, but in the culture and in the community.
31:54: Now that's something we are not familiar with. You go to the gates of your town and then you bind yourself before the representatives of that town to do something.
32:05: And it was important that you followed through. Your reputation was on the line at this point.
32:12: This is something that's different. Men's reputations were very, very valuable, very important back then.
32:19: If you gave your word, you had to count on that. You could count on that. I remember hearing stories from the 1800s, early 1900s.
32:27: If two men made a business deal, they only had to agree verbally and it was done.
32:33: And they would not go back on it because there were Christian men who knew that their word was representative of their commitment to Christ.
32:41: And that was it. And so we don't have that now. Now you get everything in writing and then sue me.
32:48: Now I have friends, if they give you your word, that's it, good enough.
32:55: I've got friends like that. You give me your word, done. I don't have to ask,
33:00: I don't have to worry about it. And they take their own word and integrity very seriously.
33:06: This is how it's supposed to be back then. And this is part of the reputation of the man. So if a man was accused of being a liar or a cheat, that's very serious.
33:17: They would often get into fights over this. You don't say that. You had to defend your honor. And think about that as a wife, your husband's honor was just as important for your family.
33:31: Because if he couldn't be trusted, that could have some pretty serious side effects for your family life, your children, success, and some other stuff.
33:38: So honor is a very important thing. And he's before the elders, here it is. He says, verse 10, moreover,
33:49: I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.
33:57: I'm going to stop there. Notice what he says, I've acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon.
34:04: I get the impression that as he's saying this, some of the elders are writing this down, or somebody who has skill at writing would be writing this down because it's legal.
34:15: I think he's identifying. I've acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon. He's saying this is who it is to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.
34:29: So Boaz says, no problem, I will marry her and I'll raise up children for her ex -spouse or late husband, for that family.
34:41: And the land that I purchased will be his. Wow. That's really something.
34:48: That's really something. So that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birthplace.
34:56: You are witnesses today. He says that you're witnesses. This is official and it's theological because it's before the elders and it's according to the
35:06: Deuteronomy 25, 5 -7 requirement of the right of redemption and raising up children, 5 -9 it is.
35:16: So there's important stuff. All right. So would you say that Boaz was a God -fearing man? Yeah, I would say so.
35:29: So Ruth had moved from the land of the
35:36: Moabites serving false gods and had moved with Naomi into Israel and was now affirming the true
35:44: God because she was going with the right of redemption and knew that her relationship with her husband,
35:52: Malan, he had died, he was Jewish. She's submitting to all of that. Boaz knows that.
35:58: She's in the true faith. So Boaz is all the more inclined to support her.
36:05: Now, verse 11, all the people who were in the court and the elders said, and remember
36:11: I said a lot of people would be there, the court, that big area. Okay. We are witnesses. May the
36:17: Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel, and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.
36:31: Micah 5 -2, from you Ephrathah, or Bethlehem Ephrathah, from you will go forth, will be a redeemer in Israel for his goings forth are from long ago, from ancient times.
36:46: So it's Micah 5 -2 is the prophecy of the birth of the Messiah. Now it says, be like Rachel and Leah.
36:53: So Rachel was a daughter of Laban and Leah was also the daughter of Laban. And so you know the story where Jacob, you know, he wanted, what?
37:07: He wanted Rachel. Yeah. He wanted Rachel because she's a hot babe. And so the veil thing, and then they do the marriage and lo and behold, it's
37:16: Leah. Why? Because you can't give it by my other daughter. You know, she's younger or older, whoever will be married first.
37:24: And so what does Jacob do? Okay. Another seven years of labor to get Rachel.
37:31: Wow. So he worked 14 years to get her. That's Genesis 29, 15 -30 talks about that.
37:38: She becomes a mother of Joseph. Joseph. Joseph's really important, right?
37:45: And Leah was a daughter of Laban married to Jacob. Now others besides the official witnesses had by this time gathered at the city gate to affirm the legality of the transaction and to add their blessings to that of the elders.
38:02: The blessing implies that more than one child was hoped for. Rachel and Leah together with their handmaids had born
38:08: Jacob 12 sons. Boaz would be rewarded if Ruth bore him many sons to add to his prestige and prosperity.
38:18: So the first male born, it goes to Malan's house.
38:23: The property goes. But the rest, his own with Ruth, the Moabitess.
38:28: And I got that out of the new Bible commentary written with that. It's interesting. Joseph's an interesting person.
38:35: We could study his life sometime, but I just want to say this one tidbit of information, which is just kind of nice. Joseph was in jail for a couple of years, right?
38:43: He got framed, was in there. Two men joined him, a baker and a winemaker, bread and wine.
38:53: And which one was killed? Think of bread and wine.
38:59: Which one's broken? The bread. Who was killed? The baker.
39:05: Interesting typology. Nevertheless, let's go to verse 12. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom
39:13: Tamar bore to Judah, to the offspring, which the Lord will give you by this young woman.
39:18: Perez, who was born to Tamar, was an ancestor of Boaz and undoubtedly of many others in the area.
39:24: So they're wishing blessings on her, on them. May you have children. That's a blessing.
39:31: Now, here in America, not so much. Now, some families say, how many children can we get?
39:39: Let's get as many as possible. I think that's a good thing to do. It's possible, that's doable, and practical and things like that.
39:48: But this is the blessing. This is the idea, because a woman who had children was considered blessed of the Lord. All right.
39:56: Then the woman said to Naomi, blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a Redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel.
40:05: So Naomi's being congratulated. The woman said to Naomi, blessed is the
40:14: Lord who has not left you without a Redeemer today. So that means the land that she was selling, for whatever reason, is going to be purchased, and her daughter -in -law, her daughter -in -law, is now has a, gives a
40:28: Redeemer, and a son will be born, will most probably be born. They had a lot of kids, generally speaking.
40:35: Okay. Verse 15, may he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age, for your daughter -in -law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him.
40:49: What a compliment. She's better than seven sons.
40:55: Do you think she was? She was a humble woman.
41:02: She went from her land to another land. She did not demand her own rights.
41:10: She submitted to the God of Israel, listened to Naomi, patiently went through the process of redemption, submitted to the culture, the time, the issues, the needs, and didn't complain, didn't demand.
41:30: But she was willingly submissive to what God was doing in her life.
41:36: And for this reason, she's better than seven sons. We know from her life, what is it that makes someone, and this doesn't just apply to a woman, what makes someone so valuable?
41:52: Is it that they have money, nice cars, or that they have children? All these things are important.
41:59: We look at them, but that's not what the important thing is. Our character before God is what's important.
42:08: How are we before God? What are we like? Are we humble before God?
42:14: If we're humble before God, we're going to be humble before each other. It's something
42:21: I learned years ago. You ask God for patience. He puts you in situations where you've got to learn to be patient.
42:29: But I remember reading or hearing or whatever it was years and years ago, that if you want to be humble before God, you're going to be humble before His people.
42:39: I never forgot that. And I think about it every now and then. When I'm praying,
42:45: I say, Lord, make me humble and loving. Well, that means before people.
42:51: To be humble before God is good. And I'm never humble before God because I know my heart.
42:56: I don't trust it. It's pretty bad. The more I pray, the more I say, okay, thank you for God's grace, period.
43:04: But I know that in my prayers like this, that what it means is I have to be the way
43:10: I want. I am with Him. I got to be with people. And that's very difficult for me in particular to do.
43:18: I've asked burgers and moved a lot and got beat up and I'm resistant and stuff like that.
43:25: I don't like bullies. And yet, in light of that,
43:30: God says to me in my own heart, you can relate to this kind of a thing, I don't care about how you were brought up.
43:37: How are you supposed to be? Are you humble before me? Then be humble before people.
43:44: No, I don't want to get walked on. I don't want to get stepped on. I guess you're not going to be humble, are you?
43:51: Because Naomi was, I mean, Ruth is a great example of this. We don't hear any of her complaints. She did what her mother -in -law said to do.
43:59: She left her own land. She could have got a husband back then, back there.
44:05: And she went the hard route and she stuck it out and she did what was right before God and before people.
44:16: And that's true. It's true. And it's something that I need personally,
44:22: I need to work on a great deal. And I'm not just saying it, it's something I need to work on. I read about Naomi.
44:27: One of the things I like reading about the women, for real, this is just my own opinion, is that I'm touched a lot by the women's actions more than I am the guys.
44:40: Like the woman who let her hair down and served Jesus that way, you know, kissed his feet. Wow. I don't see any man doing that.
44:48: Not that I'm not knocking all women are better. That's not it. We have different strengths and different weaknesses. But I learned that and I see that.
44:55: I see this blessedness in Ruth. And, you know, just because she's a woman doesn't mean that she can't teach us.
45:03: And just because we're men doesn't mean we can't emulate that kind of humility and service before God by being that way before people.
45:13: And so generally, when I read about the women doing something, I'm going to listen.
45:20: So this woman who went up and touched Jesus' hem was healed. Do you know why she was healed?
45:27: Because she believed. What? She believed. She believed. Your faith has healed you.
45:32: But she touched something very specific, the hem. And on the hem, it's called the talit and the tzitzit.
45:41: And it was a series of knots that were put around the hem around certain garments that symbolized the law.
45:49: She's pushing her way through a crowd. Think about that. A woman, physically smaller, physically weaker, pushing through a crowd to go to this great teacher man and bend down and touch the law, recognizing who he is.
46:09: She's healed. Just like that. And now that's saying men are stupid, but we don't see a man doing that.
46:19: But we do see this woman doing that. And I think it's interesting.
46:25: You know, the women are the ones who were at the tomb first, taking care of him. They were out in public. And what was the other one?
46:32: Well, of course, the centurion, he had great faith. He said to Jesus, I know that if you say this, it'll be good. And that's the kind of faith we need to emulate as men.
46:40: Trust in who Christ is. Let's get things done. But it was like, oh yeah, Mary and Martha.
46:46: And I like that account too, because Mary and Martha are sitting there and Martha's complaining about Martha or Martha complaining about Mary.
46:57: I can't remember. Martha's complaining about Mary because Mary's doing nothing. And who does
47:04: Jesus praise? She wasn't making any sandwiches. Oh, she was not doing that.
47:11: She was doing the best thing possible, being with Jesus. And it's like, oh, that's right.
47:20: I think about that. What's the best thing to do? I actually think about that because I'm Mary. I got these articles to write.
47:26: I got this radio to do. I got these things to do. I got this debate to do. I got this. But the better thing is to sit on his feet.
47:33: And I'm convicted by that. I am learning how to slow down and say, okay, where's the priority?
47:43: So it'd be interesting just to study the women of the
47:48: Bible and learn from their thing. We learn from Paul. I mean, I could tell you what
47:53: Paul did, Peter did. We go to John, we go to Moses. Moses was great. Look what he did with the sea. Come on,
47:58: Joseph, the whole bit. All these great men. All right. We got all these great men. But the women, they have other things to teach in a different way.
48:08: And it's nice to learn from them as well. As the scriptures has told through the
48:13: Holy Spirit has brought them to the place of being recorded. Okay.
48:20: All right. Now, I think we're going to go over verse, wait, verse.
48:32: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Read verse 12. Go to verse 13. So Boaz took
48:38: Ruth and she became his wife and he went into her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son.
48:45: Now, a son is important because that attributes the blessings, the legal line, the strength, the ownership of land, it's a blessing.
48:56: The woman said to Naomi, blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today. That's the son. And may his name become famous in Israel.
49:04: For the proof of Boaz raising up an heir to a limeleck would take care of Naomi because they were obligated in that culture to take care of their parents, obligated to do that.
49:18: May he also be to a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age. For your daughter -in -law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him.
49:28: Verse 16, then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse.
49:36: So she was adopting him. She was accepting him is what it is. Now became his nurse. I wonder if it meant a wet nurse or if a different kind, but because if you're, because you, you know, hold on a sec here.
49:51: Hold that real fast. All right.
49:58: Sorry about that folks. You thought it was a rapture, didn't you? Yeah, it's a rapture. Let's get up here.
50:05: Here we go. Okay. I'll get us locked that in and lock that in.
50:11: There we go. And how come it's not, okay, there we go. Why is that not?
50:21: Oh, there we go. Thank you, sir, for holding that.
50:28: Actually, what I did was I kicked the cord of my foot and anyway, it was really great.
50:35: Forgot what it was. Let's move on. Okay. Wet nurse, because don't you have to, as a woman, you have to kind of be pregnant in order to get the equipment ready.
50:48: So a right way to say it, but I mean, the nurse, but I've heard that there are wet nurses.
50:54: So maybe the ladies could tell me is if maybe there's a way to, yeah, I'll shut up.
51:00: Because you have a child, you already had your child and you're still producing milk and then you go to another child and you keep producing because you have a new baby.
51:10: Right. But Naomi was the nurse. I want to know if it was a wet nurse.
51:16: It was something I don't know about. Probably shouldn't just leave this a while to get going.
51:23: Right. I'll just give her not going anywhere. I just, I don't know. I ask these kinds of questions. I wonder, you know, it's what key information just tells you how
51:35: I think, you know, how does that work? I don't know that she could do that because she had been, she could,
51:41: I don't think she can make, what do you think she could move on?
51:48: It is possible. My wife says, okay, we'll move along.
51:58: Well, come abreast of that topic. All right. The women of the area.
52:11: Sorry, that one got me. I got a lot more in my head.
52:20: I'm not going to say them. I got more. I'm not, I'm not going to do it. Let's go on. Okay. I'm not trouble.
52:27: Why are you guys all laughing? If I'm in such, oh, cause I'm in trouble. That's why you're laughing. That's what it is. Okay. All right.
52:33: I got more, but I'll leave it alone. All right. Verse 18. Oh, all right.
52:38: The women of the area understood that this was Naomi's son. And Obed, he's a short form of Obadiah.
52:47: Okay. And that's our cat's name. Obi. We call him Obadiah, but Obi or Kittler or pigster, depending, but Obed is short for Obadiah, which means servant of the
53:00: Lord. It's a fitting name for the grandfather of King David. That's what happens here.
53:06: Jesse means I possess and David means beloved. So now basically what we're going to end with, or I'm going to read them, is the end of this chapter and the end of the book of Ruth is a genealogy.
53:18: And we'll discuss this a little bit. Now, these are the generations of Perez. To Perez was born
53:23: Hezron and to Hezron was born Ram and to Ram Aminadab and to Aminadab was born
53:28: Nashan and to Nashan, Salmon and to Salmon was born Boaz and Boaz, Obed.
53:34: To Obed was born Jesse, to Jesse was born David. That's included in the genealogy.
53:40: This is important. It's probably one of the reasons that the Jews accepted this book because of the genealogical necessity, also the kinsman redeemer issue because they understood the prophetic nature of it.
53:53: All right. So from Salmon to David, not Salmon, Salmon, but Salmon to David was 380 years.
54:02: Generations here are omitted for brevity because if you go back and you actually look at the research and the other part, the genealogies, this leaves some out and does it on purpose.
54:14: Because what they would do is use genealogical representations, this person, that person, that person, this person.
54:20: And so not all genealogies are exactly identical, exactly accurate. And that's normal.
54:25: That was okay because you'd get the biggies of history and list out the big influencers of history and say this, so and so.
54:33: That's how the culture was. All right. So it serves a document, the legitimacy of David's ancestry because through David, his house, the
54:43: Messiah would come. Now in these names, it says Perez, which means breach.
54:50: Hezron means surrounded by a wall. Where is, hey, where's surrounded by a wall?
54:57: Well, he's playing with the breach over there. These are the names, like the
55:03: Indian names, you know, where's running bear. Ram means high or exalted.
55:08: Amitadab means by kinsman. My kinsman is noble. Nashan means enchanter.
55:16: Salman means garment. Boaz means fleetness. Obed means servant.
55:22: So this genealogy does not include Elimelech, which is interesting. Instead, Obed is called the son of Boaz, but legally, technically, he's supposed to be of Elimelech, but they know what's going on.
55:38: They know this issue and they just said a Boaz. This is probably due to legal lineage, which is interesting because legal lineage is interesting.
55:49: I forgot where, but there's a curse on Jeconiah that none of his descendants would sit on the throne of David.
55:59: But Jeconiah is in the lineage of Jesus by Joseph, on Joseph's side.
56:13: And so how is it then that Jesus, being a descendant of Joseph, could sit on the throne of David, the king, but yet there's a curse on his descendants?
56:32: The legal lineage was biologically through the father, but there wasn't any in that case with Jesus.
56:39: But the biological was through Mary. That's why there's two genealogies, two genealogies in the
56:45: Bible in Matthew and Luke. Anyway, this book,
56:52: Ruth, is full of the sovereignty of the hand of God.
56:58: And the central figure here is Ruth, but also Boaz, are kind of central figures.
57:06: But Ruth is really the one who stands out because of her goodness, her humility, her trust before God and before people.
57:16: Now, do you think she'd be like that with her husband? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
57:23: That's why he wanted her as a wife. Who knows? That's very attractive. Yes, it is.
57:29: Yeah, it is. And then Proverbs talks about a good wife, and there's different things, and she goes out and buys a field.
57:38: She's good. She's competent, loyal, works, and things like that. So there's a lot of good qualities to be said of women biblically.
57:45: In faithfulness, God provided for Ruth, and thereby Naomi provided for us as well, a Redeemer, the true kinsman,
57:51: Redeemer Jesus. So some of the lessons in the book, what would you say some of the lessons of the book are?
57:57: What do you think? What? Obedience. Obedience. Yeah, that's one. Being obedient to God, right?
58:05: What another one? There's several. Submission. Submission.
58:10: Submission to what? Submission to God. To God. And familiar responsibilities, right?
58:20: That's what created the whole family. Yep, family, yeah. And as we're talking about these women and the things that are, wow, the stories.
58:30: My mind keeps going back to Eve and how Eve broke out. She didn't submit.
58:36: She went into her own thing. So it's nice to hear those stories. Those stories.
58:42: Yeah, Eve really blew it, but she had the devil personally working against her.
58:51: And so not that it gives her a pass, but still, yeah.
58:58: Humility. Humility, yeah. Humility of Ruth. Ruth, I see as being very humble.
59:04: Very humble. Very humble woman. Very attractive, very humble woman. Now, what about Boaz?
59:11: What kind of things we learned from Boaz? Honorable. What's that?
59:16: He was dutiful. Dutiful. And? Honorable. Honorable. Dutiful and honorable.
59:23: Those are similar, right? And he was, in a real sense, a type of Christ here.
59:30: And Ruth is a type of us, the bride, who was redeemed by the kinsman -redeemer.
59:39: And the preciousness of Ruth is interesting because her sins aren't recorded.
59:47: Her sins are not recorded, which is just as the Bible says, he will remember our sins no more.
59:55: Remember our sins no more. I think she represents the bride, what it's supposed to be.
01:00:01: Humble before God, trusting in God, and the bride, we trust one another inside the faith.
01:00:08: If Jesus says something interesting, they will know that you're my disciples, what a love you have for one another. John 13,
01:00:14: I think it is 34, I think. I think, sure. But the idea here is that there's more to this than just a nice story.
01:00:21: There's lessons and types. Because Jesus says in John 5, 39, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, but it is, these are bare witness of me.
01:00:31: So this book, Ruth, is about Jesus, ultimately. And we have to find
01:00:37: Jesus in there because that's what Jesus said. So Jesus is found in the kinsman -redeemer
01:00:42: Boaz. Ruth represents the bride redeemed by the kinsman -redeemer, who gives up a lot of what he owns to redeem someone else for something he won't get back, which is what it is with us.
01:00:56: We can't pay him back. We can't pay him back anything. And so what's our obligation then?
01:01:05: To continue to love God and love our neighbor. And if you want to love God, you've got to love your neighbor.
01:01:11: You want to say, Lord, I want to love you. He's going to say, good, this is how I want you to do it, that person across the street.
01:01:17: Because that's what God himself did. God so loved the world that he gave. The nature of love is other -centered.
01:01:24: Greater love has no man than this, but he lay his life down for his friend, John 15, 13. Love is other -centered and God is love, 1
01:01:30: John 4, 8. So God is loving and other -focused. And if he wants us to love
01:01:36: God and love our neighbor, which is the greatest commands, we can't be selfish. We can't be stubborn.
01:01:43: We can't be prideful. We can't be arrogant. We can't be self -righteous. We can't be self -justifying.
01:01:50: What other things are we not supposed to be? Arrogant. We can't be these things if we're to manifest the love of God given to us through the blood of Christ, which we're obligated to do as Christians.
01:02:04: Now, I'll tell you, I don't like that. That's honest. I don't like it because it's hard.
01:02:13: It's hard to love my wife sometimes. It's hard for her to love me sometime. It's hard for me to love my neighbor sometime or my friends sometime or others sometime or the branded administration.
01:02:27: It's difficult to do that, but we're called to do these things anyway. And sometimes we just have to be obedient whether or not we like it.
01:02:37: And I think there's something to that. I remember when Nick and I had marriage problems early on in our marriage through seminary and stuff like that, we went and saw a counselor and he helped.
01:02:49: He really did. He said this, he says, you love by doing not because you feel it.
01:03:01: You do what's right. And he says, if you're honoring God in this, then he rewards you in your heart as you serve.
01:03:13: I hate it when he does that. I hate it when he's right. I can't argue with that because he said a couple of things like that in the counseling that were just, you're right.
01:03:25: And there's nothing you can say about it. He's just right. And he was getting this out of Christ himself.
01:03:32: He was my professor in seminary also, a good man who taught me a lot in a different way.
01:03:40: I was taught through trials and tribulations. I've grown and still have a lot to grow.
01:03:45: But here's the thing, is that if we're going to be loving, we can't just be loving in word. We've got to be loving in deed.
01:03:54: And that can be very difficult. Even the people that wrong you? Yeah. Even the people that wrong you, that's right.
01:04:02: That's what Jesus did. No matter what the wrong is? Jesus was being crucified and said, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do.
01:04:08: He's on the cross now. So I've got people in my past that I'd like, now that I'm bigger and stronger and heavier and martial arts stuff,
01:04:21: I'd like to talk to them and have a discussion with them, behind the bleachers, back at the old high school, the people
01:04:28: I want to talk to. That's never going to happen because I would never do anything like that because I have things to forgive.
01:04:33: Remember, I didn't start having, I've told this before, I didn't stop having nightmares of being murdered until I was 35.
01:04:43: I remember the last one. I remember the last dream where I didn't have any, but I remembered after that.
01:04:48: But here's the thing, that's what we're called to do. And it's difficult. I remember the story of the man whose son was murdered and the murderer was caught, apprehended and went to jail.
01:05:02: And the father visited that man in jail and forgave him because that father was a
01:05:08: Christian. And he developed a relationship with that murderer and led that young man to the
01:05:15: Lord. And when that man got out decades later from paying for his crime, he stayed with that father.
01:05:24: And you can watch the movie End of the Spear, which is a great movie. And I interviewed on the radio, the young boy who's been a grown man, who was in the movie at the end because he became friends with the man who killed his father.
01:05:46: And they're friends and they love each other because there's forgiveness in Jesus. There's no reason ultimately that we have to hold on to any wrong.
01:06:01: Because I could get the Bible and maybe I will do this because we're getting on this topic, a little side break, but Colossians 3.
01:06:09: I tell people, don't read Colossians 3 because Colossians 3 will hurt you.
01:06:15: Colossians 3 will expose you to what you are in yourself. And Colossians 3, as good as it is, talks about what it means to be loving.
01:06:26: See, Ruth was living it. She's an example of living what it was she professed.
01:06:33: She did. She's a great, she is. I'm not saying it because there are girls here.
01:06:39: If there was no women here, I'd be saying this to the man. I'd say, man, we need to listen to her. Listen to what she did.
01:06:44: What a great example of it was. I'd go to other places in the scripture. We need to learn from these women what they've done in the scriptures and why they're recorded in the word of God as being inspired because of the things that they did.
01:06:56: And they were praised by God for it. These are important things. So if we're to go to Colossians 3,
01:07:02: I'm kind of rambling a little bit about this. It says, verse 5,
01:07:11: I'm just going to read through it. Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
01:07:19: For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. That's not us. That's them.
01:07:25: And in them, you also once walked when you were living in them. But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abuse of speech from your mouth.
01:07:37: Do not lie to one another that you've laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.
01:07:52: A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew. That's huge in that culture. Circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian,
01:07:59: Scythian, slave and freeman. But Christ is all and in all. So this is,
01:08:05: I don't like this. So as those who have been chosen of God, that's the elect, that's the ones redeemed.
01:08:14: Let me read again. So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the
01:08:30: Lord forgave you, so also should you. There's no way
01:08:36: I can do that. But with Christ, I can. I read a story about a man who was married, and I don't know if he had a problem with his wife, was upset with his wife, or with somebody else.
01:08:49: I think it was with his wife. Not that his wife was bad or whatever. What I'm talking about is he had this issue, and he was upset, and he went in to pray.
01:08:58: And he prayed to forgive, I think it was his wife, forgive her, whatever. And he got up from his knees, but he was still angry, had to get back down on his knees.
01:09:10: And this went on for a while, he said, until he had spent enough time with the Lord when he realized, yeah, maybe she wasn't that wrong.
01:09:22: Maybe I blew it. But then there was mutual stuff, but that wasn't the important issue.
01:09:28: It was, I need to truly forgive. And he would not leave his knees until he got to that place.
01:09:37: And I thought, could I do that? I don't know. Was Ruth like this?
01:09:47: Compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient? Yeah, she was. That's what we're supposed to be.
01:09:55: I find this interesting that Ruth exhibited a lot of what Paul says you're supposed to do.
01:10:02: Just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And I've had to deal with this verse many times, and I don't like it.
01:10:12: Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful that the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
01:10:33: Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. So, I mean, there's a lot here, and I'd love to preach through this.
01:10:39: But anyway, when I look through the Old Testament and I see things,
01:10:45: I want to find Jesus in them. I want to learn. I'm good at doctrine. I'm good at extracting doctrine.
01:10:53: But there's a doctrine of love right here, which is practiced.
01:11:00: That's what true love is, practiced. It's not sequestered.
01:11:06: It's not isolated. It's not reduced. True love comes from God, and true love is like Ruth, humble.
01:11:17: By being humble, she's not stubborn. By being patient, she's not demanding.
01:11:25: By being submissive to the will of God through the people around her, she's not trying to work circumstances for her benefit.
01:11:35: Because to do one thing means to not do another. And if we're doing the other, we can't do the former.
01:11:43: If we're being prideful, we can't be humble. But if we're being humble, then we're not going to be prideful.
01:11:49: Incidentally, pride and humility are very similar. They both hide themselves in your heart, and you can't recognize them, but others can.
01:11:59: You can see the humility in someone else and the pride in someone else. And I have a friend named
01:12:06: Bill McKeever, a great expert on Mormonism, and I've known him for decades. And I said to Bill, I said,
01:12:15: Bill, you know, you are a pretty humble guy. And he said, yeah, I'm proud of my humility. I never forgot that, you know, and I chuckled.
01:12:25: But he is a pretty humble guy. He's a good guy. But never, whoops, there we go.
01:12:30: Oh, and it's going to have a camera right there. That's right. So that's the book of Ruth. A lot to learn, a lot to glean from the book of Ruth.
01:12:43: What's that? You got that? Gleaning, the book of Ruth.
01:12:51: Oh, man. Yep. And you wonder, people who are listening,
01:12:56: I think my foot hit the button, which is right there.
01:13:03: That's what it was, exactly where my foot is. So hold on, let there be light. Okay. And we'll go down a little bit, whatever.
01:13:12: All right. So you guys have any comments or questions here or there?
01:13:19: Go ahead. Let's see. Matt says, Boaz married her. Isn't that a type of servitude or no? Yes, it is.
01:13:26: I would say so, Erasmus. It was a humble, not a humiliation, but a humbling of Boaz in that to get the bride.
01:13:38: I don't know how that was humble that much, but interesting.
01:13:45: Michael says, I really love learning the types of Jesus in the Old Testament. Jill, Matt is real.
01:13:51: That's right. I'm right here. I'm not a hologram. That's correct, Jill. Vicki says, I have been listening to him for years and I've never noticed him to be passive, aggressive, and braggy.
01:14:00: Who, me? Hear that? I'll get my wife right over here.
01:14:07: Meek, have you heard? Someone's making noise over there.
01:14:13: Okay. Let's see. How come that's hiding? What happened?
01:14:22: Okay. Hi, that Jill Baxter. Okay. I don't know what's going on there. Okay. Have a blessed night, everyone.
01:14:27: It's late in the East Coast. Kevin D, you're welcome. LP, I don't know what his favorite record is. Well, thank you.
01:14:33: Jimmy Smythe, thanks Matt and Meek for hospitality. Vicki Gower, Jimmy Smythe, Ruth's sister returned to her homeland.
01:14:42: That's right. Do you have any questions? Anything else you want to add or anything? What was that?
01:14:53: Okay. Wait a second. Chris Yoke, listened to Matt for a while. I like some part of his teaching, though some old, but he is quite passive, aggressive, and braggy, particularly like his
01:15:02: Bible study, not so much on calls. Okay. See, when someone says that about me, passive, aggressive, and braggy,
01:15:13: I will never say it's not true because there's always some degree of sin in me where that is true.
01:15:20: You're arrogant. I've had people say, Matt, you're arrogant. You're prideful. You're stubborn.
01:15:25: Yep. Now what? What I'm telling you is still true.
01:15:35: Daniel Lundy, enjoyed the show. Matt, never boring. Good. Ruth's sister returned to her homeland.
01:15:40: Good night, kids. Truth defenders. All right. Anybody here have any comments? Did you enjoy that? Did you enjoy the Book of Ruth?
01:15:47: It was good, huh? It was good. I'm getting kind of more intrigued with the idea of doing a study on the women of the
01:15:55: Bible and see what we can glean. Another study
01:16:02: I want to do is just on Jesus to see what he was like as a man. That would be interesting.
01:16:09: What was Jesus like as a man? What's masculinity according to Jesus? That's an interesting study.
01:16:19: What? What? He wasn't obnoxious. He wasn't obnoxious, but he did say things like, you whitewashed sepulcher, you have your father, the devil.
01:16:29: He did say to Mary who was there, who is working, that it's better to be with them.
01:16:37: That wouldn't apply to me. Don't you think Jesus was obnoxious?
01:16:43: He was straightforward. He was straightforward. He was truthful. That's right. He was a servant. And what?
01:16:49: No nonsense. No nonsense. That means half of what I say is going to be gone. Oh. Yeah, you didn't disagree with that one.
01:17:01: Oh, what? I missed my cue. That means the Bible study won't be an hour, it'll be five or six minutes.
01:17:12: Okay. Which one would be awesome? I know what
01:17:17: Vicki would want probably, the study on the ladies, which I think is really a good study. I think it would be a good study. Start with Eve.
01:17:23: Start with Eve? We're going to start with Eve? The woman you gave me.
01:17:32: She's the first woman after all. She's the first woman. And you know the theology behind all of that.
01:17:38: I got on the guy more than the girl. But hey, she said, Matt, all you had to do is hold up that broken cup that stops the show.
01:17:47: I love that cup. It's upstairs. I have a wine goblet upstairs and it's 3 ,300 years old.
01:18:01: Actually, it's 3 ,320 or 3 ,350, 50 years old.
01:18:07: It's a wine goblet. And I like it because it's broken just like we are. I hope in eternal state we can see instant replay of all history as it really happened.
01:18:15: That might hurt your head. It was all history as it really happened instantly. Mary can do it apparently because she can hear all prayers from all people in all languages all over the world simultaneously while they're thought and spoken.
01:18:30: I witnessed to a friend yesterday and when I got to repent and put your faith in Christ, he asked how. I said, trust in Christ for salvation.
01:18:36: He asked, but how? Am I not clear? Well, you could give an illustration,
01:18:43: Louise. One of the common ones is you trust somebody.
01:18:49: What does it mean to trust somebody? You have them turn their back to you and close their eyes and fall back into your arms.
01:18:57: I'll catch you. You trust that I will do that. And this is what trust is. It's an action in that sense.
01:19:03: To trust means to cognitively put your dependence in that.
01:19:14: Speaking of humility, have you seen the war going between Kelly Powers and Sam Schimone? They are going back and forth.
01:19:20: It's getting ugly. I used to know Kelly Powers years ago and Sam I still know. Type out what's on,
01:19:27: Truth. I'll mention a little bit here. It's been a long time since I talked to Kelly Powers.
01:19:41: What? Oh, just like an apologist. Sam Schimone is like an apologist.
01:19:50: I used to talk to Kelly. I'm trying to remember. It's been years ago. But anyway, no big deal. So that's that.
01:19:56: Sam was getting out of hand. Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yep, I would see that.
01:20:02: Okay, Truth. Insults, accusations, yeah. Yeah, there's some issues there. All right.
01:20:09: Well, I guess we'll just close it up. It's almost nine o 'clock my time. It'll be 11 o 'clock on the East Coast and wherever you are in other parts of the world.
01:20:17: I hope you had a good time. No study next week because it's Thanksgiving. And then we're going to meet again the week after and discuss, just give us anecdotes of how
01:20:27: God's worked in your life. Remember? You guys thought that would be good? You better be talking right now.
01:20:33: That's obviously what's wrong with her life. Because otherwise.
01:20:41: Something about sandwiches, right? We should have a contest at the end of the year, which woman or man, my wife says, makes the best sandwiches.
01:20:55: We could actually have, it would be kind of fun to actually have a best sandwich making contest.
01:21:02: We each kind of try each other's and have a vote and stuff like that to see. That wouldn't be fair.
01:21:09: That wouldn't be fair. We got to have mixed teams here. Yeah. Handicap.
01:21:15: Are you kidding me? I would just slap some bologna on a couple of breads and some mustard there.
01:21:23: What's that? You wouldn't eat that. See? I did.
01:21:31: I fry it up and then I put mustard and mayo and then that's what I had for dinner tonight. No, she frisbees a bag of frozen peas at me.
01:21:45: Okay. Neek would win, says Laura. Oh yeah. Yeah. She would. Yeah. She's a good cook.
01:21:53: What's that? And she has a good arm. That's right. She can zing it right into my skull. That's right.
01:22:00: All right. Okay, everybody. Well, God bless. We'll see you in a couple of weeks.
01:22:06: Lord willing. All right. Men, have you heard about the great reset? Yes, I have.
01:22:13: It's common. We're going to be talking about a little bit about that after after we sign off here, but what
01:22:21: I could do, what's that? Okay.
01:22:29: Okay. Vicki, God bless. Keep up the falconing, falconry, falconry.
01:22:35: She's a falconer. I found out today that she has red tail hawks and I was asking her if there's a way to train them to go after leftist wacko commies.
01:22:48: Would that be an expression of love that you were talking about? Yes. Yeah, because it's an imprecatory form of love.
01:22:57: All right, everybody. God bless. We'll see you. All right. Two weeks, two weeks.